Tattoo
[tæ'tuː] or [tæ'tu]
Definition
(noun.) the practice of making a design on the skin by pricking and staining.
(noun.) a design on the skin made by tattooing.
(noun.) a drumbeat or bugle call that signals the military to return to their quarters.
(verb.) stain (skin) with indelible color.
Checked by Benita--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A beat of drum, or sound of a trumpet or bugle, at night, giving notice to soldiers to retreat, or to repair to their quarters in garrison, or to their tents in camp.
(v. t.) To color, as the flesh, by pricking in coloring matter, so as to form marks or figures which can not be washed out.
(n.) An indelible mark or figure made by puncturing the skin and introducing some pigment into the punctures; -- a mode of ornamentation practiced by various barbarous races, both in ancient and modern times, and also by some among civilized nations, especially by sailors.
Typed by Brian
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Beat of drum (to summon soldiers to quarters at night).
Typist: Lycurgus
Definition
n. a beat of drum and a bugle-call to call soldiers to quarters originally to shut the taps or drinking-houses against them.—The devil's tattoo the act of drumming with the fingers on a table &c.; in absence of mind or impatience.
v.t. to mark permanently (as the skin) with figures by pricking in colouring-matter.—n. marks or figures made by pricking colouring-matter into the skin.—ns. Tattoo′āge; Tattoo′er; Tattoo′ing.
Edited by Gene
Unserious Contents or Definition
To see your body appearing tattooed, foretells that some difficulty will cause you to make a long and tedious absence from your home. To see tattooes on others, foretells that strange loves will make you an object of jealousy. To dream you are a tattooist, is a sign that you will estrange yourself from friends because of your fancy for some strange experience.
Edited by Edith
Examples
- I have made a small study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the subject. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Lord Steyne made no reply except by beating the devil's tattoo and biting his nails. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- A half-dressed boatman, standing next me, pointed with his bare arm (a tattoo'd arrow on it, pointing in the same direction) to the left. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- He examined and admired the tattooing on the forehead and breast. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wrist could only have been done in China. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Across their foreheads were tattooed three parallel lines of color, and on each breast three concentric circles. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Typist: Psyche